9arm Reveals How Games Help Improve English Skills Starting with Warcraft
When it comes to learning English, many people immediately think of classrooms, textbooks, and grammar drills. For well known influencer 9arm, however, his journey with English began in a far more familiar place for many gamers: video games. In particular, titles like Warcraft and Warcraft III played a major role in shaping his language skills, turning entertainment into an unexpected but effective learning tool.
9arm and English Lessons from Warcraft
9arm recalled that when he first started playing Warcraft and Warcraft III, learning English was never part of his plan. His only goal was to enjoy the game. However, English subtitles were unavoidable, appearing everywhere from character dialogue to mission instructions and objective lists. At first, it felt confusing, like watching a movie without subtitles. Yet as he continued playing, certain words began to stick naturally.
Terms such as “Objective,” which he later understood as “target,” along with vocabulary related to attacks, cities, races, monsters, blood, and battles, slowly became familiar through repeated exposure. Instead of memorizing words from a book, he learned them through context and necessity.
According to 9arm, what makes games especially effective for language learning is that they force players to understand. If you cannot read or understand the objective, you cannot progress. Every mission becomes a real challenge, not just in gameplay, but in comprehension. Seeing Objective 1, 2, and 3 alongside a map clearly communicates that these are tasks to complete, making the meaning intuitive rather than abstract like vocabulary lists in textbooks.
He also pointed out that vocabulary growth through games does not require learning thousands of words. With only around 500 to 800 commonly used words in a game, players can already understand roughly 60 to 70 percent of the story and situations. For someone who never intended to seriously study the language, this level of understanding is already a major achievement.
9arm’s experience highlights how games are more than just entertainment. They can serve as practical tools for language development, especially story driven games with clear goals, subtitles, and progression systems like Warcraft. Starting from something you genuinely enjoy can make learning more natural, engaging, and surprisingly effective.
Have you ever picked up English or another language from playing games? Share your experiences with This Is Game SEA and join the conversation.
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